The KCNA is a certification aimed for individuals who want to advance to the professional level by demonstrating an understanding of the core knowledge and abilities of Kubernetes. This certification is ideal for students learning about or candidates interested in working with cloud native technologies.

Exam Brief

• Duration : 1.5 hours

• Passing score: 75%

• Certification validity: 3 years

• Prerequisite: None

• Cost: $250 USD, 1 year exam eligibility, with a free retake within the year.

• Result: Emailed 24 hours after exam completion

• Official KCNA curriculum

• The exam consists of around 60 MCQ questions.

KCNA topics overview

1. Kubernetes Fundamentals - 46%

1.1 Fundamental Kuberenetes resources

• Pods in Kubernetes
• Pods in K8s
• Deployments in Kubernetes
• Deployments in K8s
• Services in Kubernetes
• Services in K8s
• ReplicaSets in Kubernetes
• ReplicaSets in K8s
• Headless Services

Useful Kubernetes commands using kubectl

kubectl get pods (obtain/list pods in current namespace)

kubectl get pods -A OR kubectl get pods --all-namespaces (obtain pods in all namespaces)

kubectl api-resources (obtain API resources that are retrievable using the kubect commands)

kubectl run nginx --image=nginx (run a pod named nginx using the nginx image)

kubectl create deploy kcna --image=nginx (create a deployment named "kcna" with the nginx image)

kubectl create deploy kcna --image=nginx --replicas=5 (create a deployment named "kcna" with the nginx image that deploys 5 pods (replicas))

1.2 Kubernetes Architecture

• Kubernetes Components Reference
• K8s components
• Nodes in K8s
• Control Plane-Node Communication
• K8s API
• The Kubernetes API
• Kubernetes API server

1.4 Containers

• Containers
• What are Containers?
• Containers
• Kubernetes for the Absolute Beginners - Hands-on by Mumshad
• What are Kubernetes Pods Anyway?
• Containers for Beginners
• Kubernetes for Beginners
• Docker Tutorial for Beginners (OPTIONAL)
• Best practices for creating Dockerfiles
• Containers vs VMS
• Container Images
• Kubernetes Tutorial for Beginners – Basic Concepts & Examples

1.5 Scheduling

• The Kubernetes Scheduler
• Assigning Pods to Nodes
• Scheduling framework
• How the K8s scheduler works

2. Container Orchestration - 22%

2.1 Containers Orchestration Fundamentals

• What is Kubernetes?
• Container Orchestration Explained
• Containers vs. Pods - Taking a Deeper Look

2.2 Runtime

• Container runtimes
• Making Sense of the Container Runtime Landscape in Kubernetes
• Container Runtime Interface (CRI)
• What are Runtime Classes?
• Kubernetes is deprecating Docker as a container runtime after v1.20
• Kubernetes is deprecating Docker: what you need to know
• Rancher Desktop – An Open Source App for Desktop Kubernetes and Container Management
• Rancher Desktop GitHub

2.3 Security

• The 4C's of Cloud Native Security
• Securing a cluster
• Cloud native security guide for building secure applications
• Kubernetes Security Best Practices: 10 Steps to Securing K8s
• Kubernetes Security Cheat Sheet
• Kubernetes Security: Common Issues and Best Practices
• What is Kubernetes Container Security?
• Kubernetes Security 101: Fundamentals and Best Practices
• Understand Role Based Access Control (RBAC) in Kubernetes
• Controlling access to the K8s API

2.4 Networking

• Cluster networking in K8s
• Network Policies in K8s
• Services, Load Balancing and Networking
• Container Networking From Scratch
• CNI - the Container Network Interface - GitHub

2.5 Service Mesh

• What's a service mesh? (REDHAT)
• What Is a Service Mesh? (NGINX)
• The Istio service mesh
• Istio & Service Mesh - simply explained in 15 mins
• Managing microservice with Istio service mesh
• Istio Architecture

2.6 Storage

• Storage in Kubernetes
• What is Kubernetes Storage?
• Kubernetes Storage 101: Concepts and Best Practices
• Volumes in Kubernetes
• Persistent Volumes aka PVs in K8s
• Why Is Storage On Kubernetes So Hard?
• A complete storage guide for your Kubernetes storage problems by CNCF
• To run or not to run a database on Kubernetes: What to consider
• Kubernetes And Databases
• Container Storage Interface (CSI) for Kubernetes GA

3. Cloud Native Architecture - 16%

• Characteristics of Cloud Native Architecture
• Twelve-Factor App
• The Cloud Native Glossary
• CNCF Cloud Native Interactive Landscape
• The beginners guide to the CNCF landscape
• Graduated and incubaring projects in the CNCF eco-system
• Cloud Native Architecture Fundamentals
• The Twelve-Factor App
• Architecting Kubernetes clusters — choosing the best autoscaling strategy
• Introduction to Monolithic Architecture and MicroServices Architecture
• Microservices Architecture
• Managing microservice with Istio service mesh
• What is microservices architecture?
• Microservices vs Monolithic Architecture

3.1 Autoscaling

• Autoscaling in Kubernetes
• Horizontal Pod Autoscaling (HPA in K8s)
• Kubernetes Autoscaling: 3 Methods and How to Make Them Great
• Kubernetes Autoscaling in Production: Best Practices for Cluster Autoscaler, HPA and VPA
• Horizontal Pod autoscaling in GKE (GCP)

3.2 Serverless

• Microservices vs. Serverless Architecture
• Serverless Functions as a Service for Kubernetes
• Serverless containers on K8s
• Knative GitHub

3.3 Community & Governance

• Community & Governance in K8s (K8s GitHub)
• The Kubernetes Community
• The Official Kuberenetes GitHub
• Kubernetes governance, what you should know
• Kubernetes Community Values
• Kubernetes 1.21: Power to the Community
• Kubernetes in Production: Best Practices for Governance, Cost Management, Security and Access Control

3.4 Roles & Personas

• Personas
• Podcast Pod CTL #28 - Kubernetes Roles & Personas
• Personas and use cases
• PodCTL - Enterprise Kubernetes - podcast focused on Roles and Personas of K8s environments

3.5 Open Standards

• Navigating open standards for Kubernetes
• Open standards can make or break a Kubernetes implementation
• Three tips to implement Kubernetes with open standards
• Open Container Initiative
• CNI - the Container Network Interface
• Container Runtime Interface (CRI) – a plugin interface which enables kubelet to use a wide variety of container runtimes - GitHub
• Container Storage Interface (CSI) Specification - GitHub
• A standard interface for service meshes on Kubernetes

4. Cloud Native Observability - 8%

4.1 Telemetry & Observability

• The Cloud Native Landscape: Observability & Analysis
• What is Telemetry? The Guide to Application Monitoring
• Tools for Monitoring Resources
• What is OpenTelemetry and why is it the future of instrumentation?
• Migrating telemetry and security agents from dockershim
• Getting started with OpenTelemetry on Kubernetes
• CNCF Advances OpenTelemetry Initiative
• Splunk Donates eBPF Telemetry Data Collector to CNCF
• Use the native logging mechanisms of containers

4.2 Prometheus

• What is Prometheus?
• An introduction to monitoring with Prometheus
• How Prometheus Monitoring works | Prometheus Architecture explained by Nana Janashia
• What is Prometheus and Why Should You Use It?
• Metrics For Kubernetes System Components
• Query Examples from Prometheus
• Prometheus Cheat Sheet - Basics (Metrics, Labels, Time Series, Scraping)
• Jaeger: open source, end-to-end distributed tracing

4.3 Cost Management

• Cost management for Kubernetes
• Kubernetes Cost Analysis: Manage Your Kubernetes Costs
• Kubernetes Cost Management and Analysis Guide
• Cloud cost optimization: principles for lasting success

5. Cloud Native Application Delivery - 8%

5.1 Application Delivery Fundamentals

• Continuous delivery at cloud native speed
• What is Helm
• What is CI/CD? by RedHat
• What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)?

5.2 GitOps

• What is GitOps?
• ArgoCD Kubernetes - YouTube playlist by Just me and Opensource
• ArgoCon 2021 - YouTube playlist
• Guide to GitOps by Weave works
• GitOps on Kubernetes: Deciding Between Argo CD and Flux
• Argo CD vs Flux CD — Right GitOps tool for your Kubernetes cluster
• FluxCD, ArgoCD or Jenkins X: Which Is the Right GitOps Tool for You?
• GitOps tools in comparison by cloudogu
• Flux vs ArgoCD
• Why is a PULL vs a PUSH pipeline important?
• Push vs. Pull in GitOps: Is There Really a Difference?
• ArgoCD Architecture

5.3 CI/CD

• Kubernetes CICD - CI/CD for Kubernetes | Weaveworks
• Kubernetes for CI/CD at scale
• Kubernetes CI/CD pipelines: What, why, and how
• Top Open Source CI/CD Tools for Kubernetes to Know
• Kubernetes CI/CD Best Practices
• CI/CD Pipelines with Kubernetes | Best Practices and Tools

Useful training material:

• Kubernetes and Cloud Native Essentials by The Linux Foundation
• Kubernetes Certified (KCNA) + Hands On Labs + Practice Exams
• Introduction to GitOps by The Linux Foundation
• Introduction to DevOps & Site Reliability Engineering by The Linux Foundation
• Oh My Git! An open source game about learning Git!
• Learn Git Branching
• Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA)

Useful reading material

• Delivering Cloud Native Infrastructure as Code by Pulumi
• Unlocking the Cloud Operating Model: Provisioning
• GitLab’s guide to CI/CD for beginners
• How to Pass your KCNA Exam by Brad McCoy
• The KCNA Exam — A quick guide to kicking off your K8S and Cloud Native Journey by Marino Wijay

Books

• Kubernetes: Up and Running by O’Reilly
• 7 Best Books to Get You Started with Kubernetes

References

• The Official Kubernetes Documentation

Useful Youtube vdeos

• CNCF Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate Certification Course (KCNA) - Pass the Exam! by Andrew Brown
• Kubernetes and Cloud Native Associate (KCNA) exam - Katie Gamanji, CNCF
• KCNA breakdown by Saiyam Pathak
• Open Source Values & Advocacy & Deep Dive KCNA Exam | CLOUDNATIVE.FM Ep 31
• KCNA Deep Dive by Katie Gamanji - The CLOUDNATIVEFM With SAIM
• KCNA Prep - Kubernetes Fundamentals Part 1
• KCNA Prep - Kubernetes Fundamentals Part 2

Useful Kubernetes repos + Next steps?

• Kubernetes Certified Administrator by Walid Shaari
• CKA Exercises
• CKAD Exercises
• CKS repo by Walid Shaari
• CKS-Exercises